Forthcoming cases

The meeting also dealt with forthcoming cases. The minutes stated that:

The Committee agreed in principle to continue to recommend that the Cardiac Surgical Program continue with cases at the intermediate level of complexity and/or risk. It was strongly recommended that cases not [underlined in original] be vetted at the level of the Committee. In spite of this, a specific case was indeed discussed. This was the case of a patient with an aortico-pulmonary window and an interrupted aortic arch who would require a circulatory arrest procedure which is essentially extra-vascular. It was the consensus of the Committee that this case represented the high risk end of the spectrum and that at the present time this be deferred. (Exhibit 20, Document 278G)

Giddins and Odim argued in favour of undertaking this operation and were opposed by McNeill. She believed that undertaking a high-risk case violated the decision to move slowly to doing moderate-risk cases. McNeill testified that Odim and Giddins felt that the program was losing the opportunity to undertake an 'interesting' case. By 'interesting', McNeill said, she understood Giddins and Odim to mean one that would be challenging to the team and develop its skills.

The minutes state that it was decided that the committee would continue to discuss cases that had been performed and monitor the cardiac team. Meetings were to be every two weeks rather than weekly. It was further agreed that in one month's time, at the September 7 meeting, consideration would be given to moving the program to full activity.